Sweet Talking Lawman (29 page)

Even in her fear,
Mesa recognized the danger she was in.  He’d never leave her alive to identify
him.  Her heart almost froze at the idea of never seeing Raale again, of
never becoming Rafe’s wife.  Tears pooled in her eyes and she batted them
away furiously.  She didn’t want this animal to see her cry!

She snatched the thin
hospital gown off and pulled on the shirt he’d given her and began to button
it.  Her fingers trembled but she got it done, then she stood and pulled
on the pants.  When she had them on she turned and glared at him. 
“May I have shoes?”  Her voice reflected the icy fear that had engulfed
her entire being.

He found a pair of
slip on sneakers at the bottom of the closet and dropped them on the floor next
to her feet.

“When we leave this
room, I want a smile on your face.  If you are foolish enough to raise
anyone’s suspicion, they will die.  If anyone asks, I’m escorting you down
to the gift shop and we’ll return shortly.  Do you understand this, Mesa?”

She nodded and was
relieved to see Jenny was still breathing as Cunningham managed to drag her
unconscious body into the bathroom and pull the door closed.

“This is on you,
Mesa,” he said, his emotionless eyes putting her in mind of a cold blooded
reptile.  “If anyone else gets hurt or dies, the blood is on your
hands.  I just want to get my money and get the hell out of here.”

She raked her fingers
through her hair and nodded as he pointed to the crutches.

“Let’s go.”  He
pocketed the pistol along with the hand holding it and as they entered the
hall, his other hand came to rest between her shoulders as if he was prepared
to steady her if needed help.

At the nurses’
station, Trish, Rafe’s cousin, arched a brow.  “You feeling that good this
morning, girl?”

Mesa smiled. 
“I’m ready to get out of here as soon as the doctor releases me.”

Trish nodded and her
smile widened.  “Where’re you headed?”

“Just down to the
gift shop.  I wanna pick up something for Raale.”  She swung the
crutches ahead and moved her body forward between them.  “We won’t be
long.”

“Kay.  Doc
probably won’t be here for about an hour so take your time.”  In the back
of her mind, Trish was trying to remember ever seeing Trey Cunningham visit
anyone in the small hospital that served Oak Ridge.  Another nurse called
her attention to a different patient’s chart, and Trish’s mind returned to her
duties.

The elevator door
slid open and an orderly pushing a patient in a wheelchair exited it and
Cunningham urged Mesa into it.

The doors closed
behind them and a moment of panic clutched at her heart, but by the time the
doors opened to the ground floor, she had regained control.

Together they crossed
the lobby and out through the automatic entrance doors into the parking lot.

Keeping his hand
between her shoulders, he directed her to the passenger side of a big SUV parked
nearby and helped her inside, then placed the crutches in the back seat.

Mesa’s eyes searched
frantically for an avenue of escape as her abductor crossed in front of the
vehicle, and hope dissipated when he slid in behind the wheel.  In spite
of her resolve not to cry, a few tears dropped onto her cheeks as the parking
lot and then the town slipped behind them.  She wiped them away quickly,
not wanting him to see them.

“Why are you doing
this Trey?  I’ve never treated you with anything less than respect,” she
asked, hating the tremble in her voice.

“Believe it or not,
Mesa, this isn’t about you.  It’s all about my money.  Just as simple
as that.”  He never looked at her while he spoke, instead, his attention
was on the road ahead of him.

“You’ve always had
plenty of money.  When your father dies, you’ll be one of the richest men
in the state.”  Desperately she hoped he’d listen to reason, but in her
heart, she knew it wouldn’t happen.

He scoffed at the
mention of his father.  “You’d think that, wouldn’t you?  Well, the
old bastard is planning to leave everything to the red roaches on the
reservation.”  His voice was raw when he turned and looked at her. 
“Every damn cent of it!”  One of his hands slapped at the steering wheel in
frustration.  “All of it!  He hired a damned Indian woman to be his
nurse, and this is all her fault.  She’s wheedled and schemed until he’s
convinced that a bunch of red roaches need it worse than I do.”

Mesa couldn’t help
shrinking as far away from him as she could get.  She was terrified of the
insanity she was seeing for the first time.

His eyes were almost
glazed and spittle strung from his mouth as his rant continued.  “Once I
get my money, I’m going back to his place and kill both of them.  They
don’t deserve to live, treating me like I’m a nobody.  Dammit, I’m his
son!”  A glare of pure hate emanated from his face when he looked at
her.  “I hate Indians.  All of them.  Damn Jenny Storm Horse
thought she was something, walking away from me.  She should have been
grateful for any attention I gave her.  The damned red bitch.  I
lowered my standards because she had a pretty face, but she was still beneath
me, pretty face or not.”  His attention swung back to the highway. 
“All because of that old squaw that raised her poisoned her against me, and she
needs to pay for that.  In fact, I think today is the day they all pay.”

Mesa wiped away more
tears.  Cunningham was insane, and she would not live to see her daughter
grow up.  Oh, God, she hated that her death would be the cause of pain for
Raale and for Rafe.  She’d never get to have a closeness with her mother,
and it would be up to Uncle Rance and Jory, strong, faithful Jory to comfort
them all while he went through his own grief from her loss.

She didn’t want to
die.  She had so much to live for.  For a second, she considered
jerking the car door open and just bailing out, but she’d still be dead and
Cunningham wouldn’t be.  At least, as long as she lived, she had a chance
to survive, as minute as it might be, and maybe she could keep him away from
Uci.

He hit the brakes and
turned off onto the dirt road that led past the driveway to the Strom Horse
ranch.

Once he turned and
was driving up the driveway, Mesa felt bile burning the back of her
throat.  Frantically she prayed the Uci would not be home, but the little
car was parked in its accustomed spot and Uci walked out onto the porch as
Cunningham brought the car to a standstill.

“You said if I came
with you, you wouldn’t drag her into this,” Mesa reminded him.

“And you believed
that?  I’ve got the gun, and I’ll do whatever the hell I please. 
Open your mouth to warn her and I’ll kill her on the spot,” he warned as he got
out of the car and walked toward the porch.

Mesa was gripped with
the urge to slip under the wheel and drive away, but knowing that if she did
that, Uci would surely die, she sat and waited.

The two seemed to
exchange a few words, then he walked up the steps and stood beside the small
woman.  A few more words passed between them and Uci shrugged and walked
down the steps beside him and out to the car.

She grumbled softly
as she had to climb up onto the side bar to get into the back seat.

Mesa turned to look
at the woman who’d raised Rafe, her heart breaking with the knowledge that
they’d both die at the hands of a mad man.  “Uci, I’m so sorry,” she
whispered.

Uci reached up and
patted the younger woman’s arm gently.  “It’s alright, Mesa.  Nothing
is going to happen today that our Creator doesn’t allow to happen.”

Cunningham slipped
behind the wheel, his insanity expressed with a quick laugh.  “How
touching, old lady, but you need to know that I have a gun and,” his voice grew
heavy with sarcasm, “your Creator does not, so I don’t think he has a hell’uv’
a lot to say about what happens today.”

Uci gave Mesa’s arm another
pat and set back in the seat.  “You might be surprised at what He can do.”

“Shut up, you
ignorant old bitch.  I don’t want to hear any of your hocus pocus Indian
crap.  Just sit there with your damned mouth shut.”

^^^

The cell block door
slammed open and a pale Beth stood there looking at them, her eyes wide and
brimming with unshed tears.  “Rafe, the hospital called.  Jenny was
found semi-conscious in Mesa’s hospital room and Mesa is gone.  Jenny has
become more alert and said she had been knocked out by Trey Cunningham, and
they think he took Mesa with him and left the building.”

Rafe felt like he’d
been slammed into a solid block wall.  He couldn’t be hearing Beth
right.  He pushed into a standing position and looked at her.  “Slow
down and say that again.”

She shook her head
from side to side.  “You heard what I said.  They need you over
there, so get going!”

Levi was now standing
beside his stricken friend.  “Come on, boss.  We’ll find out what
happened when we get there.”

As they arrived at the
hospital, siren screaming, the shock that had paralyzed Rafe’s mind began to
clear.  At a run he burst through the entrance and when he entered, Jenny
tore herself out of Russ’s arms, flying across the lobby to meet her brother,
her eyes swollen from the tears that still marked her cheeks.

Russ, accompanied by
an anxious Trish, joined them, Trish slipping comfortably into Levi’s welcome
arms, where she stood quietly waiting until Rafe finished talking with his
sister.

Rafe cradled Jenny in
his arms as she sobbed through what had happened earlier in Mesa’s room, and a
combination of rage and terror flooded through his body listening to his sister
sniffle through the story.  When Jenny was finally finished, Rafe’s mind sorted
through the information she’d provided.

Cunningham had
entered the room as if he’d just dropped in for a casual visit, but it didn’t
take long for him to pull a small handgun from his pocket and inform them that
Mesa was leaving with him.

Like a tiger defending
her cub, Jenny had flown at him, ignoring the weapon in his hand until he used
it to club her on the side of the head.  Stunned, she’d slipped in and out
of consciousness but had heard him telling Mesa that he was heading out to the
Storm Horse Ranch and if she didn’t go with him, without causing a scene, he’d
kill the old lady when he got there.  It had something to do with money
he’d hidden out there somewhere, but Jenny hadn’t heard more.

“Sugar,” Rafe hated
to question his distraught sister, but none of this made any sense to
him.  “Why would Cunningham hide money at the ranch, and when would he
have done it.  I haven’t seen the man in the area in years.”

She shook her head
negatively.  “I don’t know, Rafe.  I know I missed parts of what he
said and did, but I just don’t know.”

Russ stepped closer
and pulled his wife back into his arms, freeing his brother-in-law to do
whatever he needed to do, and Rafe swung his attention to his cousin as she
eased out of Levi’s embrace.

“Did you see them?”
he asked, sensing Trish’s anguish.

She nodded and told
him about the brief exchange she’d had with Mesa in the hallway. 
“Thinking back on it, I’m sure he forced her to go with him.  I should
have known it.  I might have been able to prevent them leaving.”

Rafe shook his head
negatively.  “You couldn’t have known, Trish.  Don’t feel
guilty.”  He looked up at Levi.

“Come on, we’ll plan
while we travel.”  He looked back at his sister and her husband. 
“I’m going out to see if I can find them and to make sure Uci is alright.”

Jenny nodded. 
“I called her and warned her to lock the doors and not to let anyone in, but if
he goes out there, you know she’ll try to help Mesa.”

Rafe nodded and swung
around, his steps carrying him out the door almost as quickly as they’d brought
him in, only a few minutes earlier.

“This is crazy,” Rafe
muttered as he slipped behind the wheel of the SUV.

Levi fastened his
seatbelt quickly, knowing that his boss would scorch the asphalt all the way to
the ranch.  “Do you think Cunningham could know how you feel about Mesa?”

Rafe shrugged. 
“This is a small town and we know rumors travel faster than Caster Oil around
here.  Anyone that has seen Raale knows she’s mine, so yeah, there’s a
good chance he at least knows she’s the mother of my child.”

“What are the chances
that he’s involved with that meth lab?” the deputy queried.

“Pretty damn
good.  He probably killed the mayor to keep him from talking, but I don’t
know how.”  The tires on the SUV squealed as Rafe accelerated out of the
hospital parking lot.

Levi reached over and
flipped on the siren and flashers.  “Just till we get out of town.” 
He cut Rafe a quick look.  “We probably don’t need to warn Cunningham that
we’re coming, but people here in town need to get the hell out of our way.”

Rafe nodded, his
concentration focused on driving.  “Call Beth and ask her to send
everybody on duty out toward my house, and send Spur with whoever leaves from
the office.  We’ll meet them there.”